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The Keep:ADHDers Guild
Description Roses are red, violets are blue. But then why are they violets and not bluets? And roses can be... Squirrel! by @KSPanda This is the guild page of the ADHDers Guild, the guild for those of us who belong to homo sapiens inattentus species, have custom artisanal brains ���� and are using Habitica to help manage the issues of motivation, distraction, and other impairments that come with our condition. This wiki will be used to collect helpful tools and recommendations to manage ADD/ADHD submitted by the guild members. Decision Making Recommendations When Torn Between Two Decisions: * Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of it. On one side write the title e.g. 'stay in college and get degree' and on the other side the title 'quit college' and underline those titles. Now spend some time writing down the obvious consequences of those two distinct options; you will find that one will call out to you as being the best option for you to pursue. Then sleep on it. Next day, review what you wrote, make any new comments or tweaks to it. Then sleep on it. Third day - it's decision time - and then really enjoy throwing all your energy into making whichever option you chose work out to the best of your abilities. * Flip a Coin to explore your gut feeling about the options at hand. When Overwhelmed By Choice (e.g. "My professor is letting us do a presentation on anything we want and while that sounds great I have come up with like 20 different topics in 2 days and everything is interesting and the lack of structure here will be my doom!!!"): * Make a Numbered List and use a Random Number Generator to pick one item. Don't waste mental energy on Decisions That Don't Matter. Back to table of contents Diagnosis Recommendations At your First Appointment Seeking a Diagnosis: * Compare your "normal" with what you consider "normal" in others. * Prepare a list. Write down your symptoms, everyday life examples when those symptoms occur (not only academic situations) and how they impact what you're doing. Do you remember having those symptoms during childhood (examples)? How do the people around you describe you (lazy, organized?, etc.)? How long have you been doing research on your symptoms and what conclusions did you make (potential other explanations for your symptoms you consider)? What resources did you use for your research (names of doctors in the ADHD giving lectures online, books, sites etc.)? Back to table of contents Apps Android * Determine the Baseline of your Symptoms: rate your ADHD symptoms daily for one month using e.g. MySymptoms (check here for more info) or an (Excel) Spreadsheet. Calculate the average rating of each symptom. Use Scale Charts for your rating and bring the chart to your appointment. This way it's easier for the doctor to imagine the impact the symptoms have on your everyday life. iOS Back to table of contents Emotion Regulation & Overwhelm Recommendations * Use Noise Cancelling Headphones/ Earbuds or the opposite: Music on very High Volume. * Highly Energetic Music (upbeat rhythm, metal etc.) or ASMR * Try to get Somewhere Dark and Quiet, feeling enclosed without being crowded, so under a blanket on an Uncluttered bed, next to a quiet person/animal/big ol’ plushie on the couch, on the floor in a clear corner where you can put your back against a wall for grounding. If you're at someone's place/outside you could head to a Bathroom or Side Hallways/Roads * Weighted Blanket * Touching Soft Things Or other textures you like (for example petting your cat ����). * Focus on Something Else that is cognitively demanding, e.g. try to remember tons of digits of pi, reciting the alphabet backwards, thinking of three good things that happened that day * Reading Fiction helps retreating back inside your head where it’s (mostly) safe * Simple, Repetitive Phone Games like sudoku * Breathing Meditations - for example "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Calming, Smiling, Present Moment, Precious Moment": you just breathe in or out with each phrase as you say them in your head * Leave the Situation as soon as possible and Shake Your Limbs as if to get rid of the overwhelmed feeling. Walk outside in a quiet neighborhood, park or natural area * Fidget Toys prevent and help managing overwhelm (e.g. Dimpl Clip, Tangle Fidget, a folding fan, especially if you live somewhere hot). They are discreet too * Use your favorite Scented Lip Balm and Hand Cream because they help block out bad or strong smells with a familiar, soothing smell * Be prepared: have a Specific Bag with Its own Designated Coping Tools that never leave it, so they don't get left behind. Have it ready to grab at home and take it with you any time you know in advance you're heading to a loud, crowded, hot, busy, etc. place. * Snacks & Water, because hunger or dehydration add to sensory overload * Drinking Cold Water or even just rinsing your face with cold water for about 45 seconds is a nice cooling effect (consider carrying a water bottle) * Dealing with Paralyzing Anxiety which leads to Excessive Procrastination: When all else fails, and if it's just the one task out of many, the best thing overall is to get someone else to do it or at least get it started for you. It can even help if someone can do the first steps, like open the envelope or pull up a website. Example: Have someone to help make phone calls. This person makes the calls and puts the phone on speaker, this way you can both answer the questions. * Dealing with Unproductive Coping Techniques / Avoidance Behavior (e.g. gaming): add a grey (never due) daily to your list for the unproductive coping activity: grant yourself 30 minutes for doing the thing and only tick the daily if you actually stop the unproductive coping after those 30 minutes. It's a little bit like acknowledging that something is overwhelming but not letting it take over. * A study came to the conclusion that High-Intensity Exercise activates brain networks involved in emotional processing. * Put Events Into Context: will your actions in the situation matter to you/ the people present tomorrow? Will it matter in a week? A month? A year? 10 years? This usually Helps with Anxiety. Another way is to Picture the Worst-Case Scenario as detailed as possible (what will happen, when, where, what exactly will people say…?) because oftentimes what we fear the most is uncertainty and not the consequences themselves, thus reducing uncertainty by clarifying what would actually happen, helps. You might also reduce uncertainty by asking someone who was present for feedback. * Distraction using the 5 Senses: name 5 things you see, 4 things you physically feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell and one thing you taste. * Schedule “Anger-Time”: allow yourself to go all out at 4 p.m., but not now. Back to table of contents Apps Android * Daylio for mood tracking iOS Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * Interactive Self-Care Guide by jace_harr. Great flowchart that walks you through taking care of yourself on a bad executive function day. WARNING: Might include wording categorized as profanity according to the Community Guidelines of Habitica. * 750Words for typed journaling. Chrome Firefox Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges Guilds : Mastering Emotions (DBT Skills) Back to table of contents Finances Recommendations * Use Cash instead of credit Cards. Helps visualizing the amount of money you spend and serves as a physical limiter for purchases. * When Online Shopping save the product in your Cart and wait for at least one day before purchasing it. After waiting for one day you might lose interest in said product. * Save things you want to a Wishlist (e.g. Amazon, Pinterest etc.) before purchasing. Chances are you forget, you even wanted to buy them. (Out of sight, out of mind) * A Container for Paperwork so it has a place to sit until you do it once a week. Back to table of contents Apps Android * Mint iOS Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges Guilds : Death and Taxes : Financial Discipline Guild Back to table of contents Forgetfulness Recommendations * White Board to organize thoughts * always carry a Notepad and Pen to catch task lists, random thoughts, ideas, goals, doodles etc. For some people it all flows out easier on paper for initial brainstorming and planning. After examining and sorting it out implement it into digital, if necessary. Use the notepad as your external working memory: "If it's not written down, it doesn't exist." At work, if something goes wrong, you can show that you wrote it down and did it as asked or passed it on to someone else. It covers your back. In short: carrying a notebook shows you care about the work. You'll work better and you'll look good to the bosses. But maybe you should Learn "Shorthand" etc. for Fast Note Taking. E.g. use lots of arrows, like ct → name means contact, and a little up down ^ shape arrow means tomorrow. * Index Cards * Pill Organizers for medication. In case you're uncertain whether you already took your pills or not. If the pill isn't in the box anymore, you obviously did. * Cue Your Behavior by linking actions with each other based on time ("If it is 3 o'clock, then I will sit down and write for 30 minutes") or timing ("If I brush my teeth, then I will take my medication"), negative behaviors ("If I'm tempted to avoid work by web surfing, I will close the browser"), positive behaviors ("If I listen to this inspirational song, then I will clean the house"), negative thoughts ("If I start to shame myself for procrastinating, I will point out two times when I didn't procrastinate"), or positive thoughts ("If I meditate for 5 minutes, then I will make that phone call"). Back to table of contents Apps Android Note-Taking * Google's Keep notes app. One thing likeable about Keep is that you basically throw in a bucket of random notes and total chaos, but when you add reminders to them, they show up nicely organized in your Google Calendar. * Line's Keep – integrated in the LINE messenger App * Microsoft OneNote - for example for class notes, story writing, and video game notes because it's set up like notebooks and is good for tiered bullet notes. It also has a mobile app that syncs up with the desktop version, which is great if one forgets to charge the laptop for class and needs to see one's notes. * Memorix because it can set reminders, pin memos to one's phone notifications, has color coded sections and a password protected section, and can be backed up in case the phone dies * ColorNote - Like Sticky Notes, but sorted and you cannot lose them. You can create checklists, but plain Text is also useful from time to time. * Omni Notes on Android (from f-droid.org naturally) To-Do Lists * Regularly - to keep track of periodic activities, like getting a haircut, that don't occur daily or weekly; when one comes up as due, put it into your "To Do" list in Habitica. * Tody to keep track of when chores need to be done (it's a bit more visual on that side than Habitica) iOS Note-Taking * Apple Notes and Reminders * Agenda to write down all your thoughts, ideas, notes, and meeting minutes. Because it can automatically specify the date and time for each note as you write them, you can find them easier when you look back and build on them later. The more important feature though is that you can assign notes to specific calendar items, like meetings, so that when you want to look back at an event, you can check out when and where it happened, who was there, and what you wrote about it. The App automatically cooperates with Fantastical 3 (see Time-Management) & Things 3 To-Do Lists * Things 3 - clean interface, the ability to hide notes away when not need but bring them back easily, and looking over the To-Do list can also include your calendar items so that you can plan your lists ahead of time without jumping back and forth between apps. Being able to see and do everything in one place makes it easier to ensure you put them in and complete them. * CARROT To-Do - get a cat to feed once a day and pet. There's a lot of good unlockable content for certain levels that you reach, gives you access to other parts of the app or more time to get stuff done. If you don't complete any task for a day or two, she gets angry. Completing 3 tasks improves CARROT's mood and turns the background from red back to blue. Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * Monica for social interactions (see Social Life * Password Keyring that comes with the free version of Avast (a security suite). It works fine 95% of the time (occasionally it gets slightly confused, but no major issues) on both Windows and Android phone. The odd thing for Android is that its features are all individual apps, but it lets you have the password keyring without having to also use up all the space with the various other parts if you don't want them all. * Todoist - huge capabilities to make long and overengineered filters to segregate to do lists. App vailable for Android and iOS. Chrome * LastPass for passwords. Firefox * LastPass for password storage. Back to table of contents Habitica Tools * Set reminders using the Habitica-App. Challenges Guilds Back to table of contents Housekeeping Cleaning * Audiobooks, Podcasts or Music while cleaning. Bonus if it's something that makes you feel powered up. * For household stuff, have a Sheet Pinned Next to the Kitchen, nicely designed with daily tasks and a week plan for stuff you only need to do on certain days of the week. So, in Habitica you only have "do household" as daily and you still have the specifics where you're not distracted. You could also use vinyl Chalkboard Stickers/ Tapes/ Wall Tattoos for that purpose. They come in different shapes like horizontal or vertical monthly planner templates, weekly planners, note pad, reusable item labels or castles etc. * Do Cat Litter the right way. * Using the Pomodoro Method for Cleaning: *# Start with a break. Grab a timer, get out of the messy/stressful area and set it for 10 minutes. Move around and do a little exercise. Do whatever kind of movement makes you happy. Dance to music, do jumping jacks, stand still and pick up your knees one at a time walk around the block (low-impact exercise is just as good as high-impact for this step). *# When the timer goes off, pick the area you want to use the most and set for (x) number of minutes. (x) is how long you feel like you can maintain that energy at the moment, anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes works for me but it varies by my mood. This is how long you will work on cleaning that specific area. Note: the chosen area is specific, like "the top surface of my desk" but as you clean, you might end up cleaning the space around the area too. This is fine! When you realize you have widened the area, just go back to the chosen spot. It might let you end up with more done than you expected (or not). When straightening a specific area, have a box for "things that go somewhere else" that you can deal with at the end. Otherwise you end up in the wrong room trying to put something in a different area for 10 minutes instead of focusing on whatever you picked as your current goal *# When the timer goes off, see if you want to keep going or want a break. ALWAYS give yourself a break if you want it! use the timer and either relax or do more enjoyable energy-spending activity. *# When you finish the chosen area (or need to do something besides clean), choose the next task. You could pick another area to clean, run an errand, work on homework, etc. This way you are making steady progress on your tasks and getting enough breaks to keep it from being too overwhelming. * Moving Places or Decluttering your home in case of an anxiety inducing amount of mess: *# Start with the floor because you have to be able to move around freely for cleaning. *# Choose a well-defined area you're going to address (e.g. that 1 square meter at the door). And move clockwise once you finished this area. Move from top to bottom when cleaning shelfs etc. *# Cover the areas you're not going to clean NOW with bedsheets/towels/etc. to reduce visual overwhelm and anxiety and to enforce the idea of only cleaning this particular square meter you chose. *# Have a box (or multiple boxes for each room in your house) where you put things that belong in a different room but are not part of your current defined cleaning area. If you don't have enough boxes just put those things on the floor of the room, it belongs into. Don't waste your time trying to find the ideal place for such objects, just put them somewhere and come back to them later. *# Set a (kitchen) timer to X minutes and start decluttering the chosen area until the timer goes off. Make a short break afterwards and set the timer again. Back to table of contents Cooking Etc. * Fast Breakfast Solutions: prepare your breakfast in the evening the day before; cereal with milk or orange juice; raw veggies with cream/ tzatziki/ hummus/ other dips; protein bars. If making coffee in the a.m. is too much work, get a programmable coffee maker or buy premade coffee. * Fast cooking with Mug Meals * No Cook Meal Items for when you refuse to adult. * Use you Habitica Dailies Like a Schedule complete with rough times. Include regular meals in your dailies. That helps getting into a routine where one activity leads to another. Back to table of contents Organization & Structure * Watch the Webinar by Susan Pinsky for ADHD-friendly Cleaning and House Organization Advices(it's for free and without spam) * "Laundry Tower". It's an... open cupboard? Where you put clothing you already wore but does not need to be washed, yet. Back to table of contents Apps * The Reminders Function of smart phones - some allow to connect reminders with GPS (e.g. reminder to take out the trash that pops up as a notification when the phone GPS sees you get to the spot you've designated as "home") * Recipe Keeper - available for Android, iOS and as a Windows 10 App: you can import recipes or add recipes of your own and change the portion size on demand. It has an integrated shopping list to which you can add ingredients from the saved recipes. There is a meal planner as well and you can set multiple timers while cooking. You can search recipes by ingredients (it looks like it's possible to search for multiple ingredients at the same time). If understood correctly, you pay only once for an upgrade rather than having a subscription. There’s at least a free Android app, so if you’re only going to use it on one device you probably won’t need the upgrade. If you need it, it looks like it costs the same as the Win 10 app. Android * Magic Home Inventory by Robert Papp - make an inventory of all your possessions and their location in your house. Helps with finding things you need but forgot where you have them. Prevents double purchases since you can always check what you already have while being in the shop. * Attach Tile to your belongings and locate them using your phone. * AnyList for synchronized grocery shopping. You can put present ideas there, too. iOS Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * FlyLady has some sort of Live Stream for cleaning to increase accountability (premium membership required though). Chrome Firefox Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges Guilds : Decluttering Devils : FLYbabies - using the FlyLady method : Horrible Housekeepers of Habitica : Make Your Home Sweet Home : Slobs Anonymous Back to table of contents Medication Recommendations * Use a Pill Organizer (see Forgetfulness) * To figure out the right medication/dose Ask the People around you To Note Any Changes when medicated versus when not. Back to table of contents Apps Android * MySymptoms - Has a reminder function and allows to track type of medication, dose and time of taking the meds as well as non-medication related things like meals, exercise, sleep quality etc. It also has a function of tracking (customized) symptoms, their duration and severity. Might be helpful when trying medication for the first time: rate your ADHD symptoms daily for one month before trying medication (base line), then track the same symptoms for one month medication. Calculate the average rating of each symptoms and see whether the numbers differ from the base line. Though calculation must be done manually (you might use an (Excel) Spreadsheet for the same purpose and it might be easier to use because of the integrated calculation functions). * MediSafe is flexible, allows snoozing or skipping reminders, and comes with fun sounds. Can be used as a meal reminder. iOS Back to table of contents Meditation Apps Android * OMM or One Moment Meditation - It is literally that - a timer for one minute meditation, up to three minutes if you include warm up and cool down. It's just a moment to get the squirrel thoughts off their various trees and thus helps with brain buzz. * Headspace has a free trial that basically lasts forever. They give you the Basics meditation, which is one course for beginners, as well as a random free meditation each day. * Smiling Mind - It's completely free, and has a bunch of meditation programs, including sleep, study, and bite size ones. * Stop, Breathe, Think is mostly free. * Calm - has a variety of meditations for different topics (but not all for free) iOS Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges Guilds Back to table of contents Self-Esteem Recommendations * Constantly Questioning whether you have ADHD or are just Lazy?. Here's some food for thought: People who are just lazy or not trying hard enough aren't troubled with looking out or exploring an ADHD diagnosis. They don't "suffer" from their own behavior and might be quite satisfied with their lives. It's those who wonder constantly, "Why can't I just do this?", "What's wrong with me?" "How can everyone else, who I know I'm more intellectually able than, succeed and I fail?", "I do this system everyone is raving about (bullet journal, pomodoro, mindfulness, cozi, etc), that will sort it, but it never does..!", those who recognize something isn't right, and never has been, but cannot properly overcome it, no matter what they try, who always feel they should be able to do better, and hate themselves because they just can't. These are the folks with ADHD. * On a Bad Executive Functioning Day avoid thinking about it too much, be cautious about criticism and try to keep a balanced awareness that we all have flaws, that that's okay, and that nothing is necessarily "final" or unchangeable* so long as we're here. Change can mean a wide variety of things, not just "do better at this thing by this same method with these same circumstances." Change might be getting better at the thing. It might be finding a different method. It might be finding a way to adjust circumstances. It might be accepting a different outcome that originally desired (for example, cleaning 2 dishes instead of 10 is still an improvement). Or it might be straight up accepting something as a weak spot and working around that, whether that means letting a thing be or changing something else in your life to accommodate that. E.g. It's not a character flaw that you can't drive, it's just a fact of life that you have to work around. * A Self-Compassion technique asks you to think of how you would talk to a friend or a child; you would NEVER tell a child or a friend that they're lazy or a screw up! You would sit down and cheer them up and be there for them to the best of your ability. Treat yourself the same. Be gentle with yourself and cut yourself some slack, understanding your limitations really helps. * When you're Stuck on the "You're just lazy/no good/a failure" Spiral, it helps to just... Go Down Another Spiral. A Tumblr post described this with the John Mulaney bit about "throwing yourself off your rhythm." Do something you know full well you will hyperfixate on, with the full intent of hyperfixating so hard you stop hyperfixating on the bad feelings. * Put up a Wall of 'Nope' every time you start feeling negative about stuff you've done or not done etc. If that thing involves other people, make sure to get in touch and apologise straight away (or as soon as possible) and explain briefly that you've messed up then try to make good on the situation wherever possible. Next thing, focus on core basics: food, drink, sleep, anxiety level. Sort it out - take a break for half an hour. Then if it's late and you're tired, just sleep. If you're not tired or it's nowhere near bedtime, then pick the least worst thing you need to do, and spend a few minutes on it. Most times you'll at least get a little done - and sometimes you'll settle into doing more. Then rinse and repeat until you've dug myself out of that scenario. Give your brain zero chance to settle into some kind of negative emotional binge. Don't dwell on negative things. Your Wall of Nope could be thought of being built of bricks called things like 'I'm doing the best I can right now' and 'I'm a nice person' and 'I will be kind to myself' etc. * Catch your thoughta of laziness and Activly Talk Back, i.e. tell yourself you're not being bad because what you're working on now needs to be done too. Or you that you need a break or else you'll burnout. * At times it's hard to not feel stupid even if you know you're not. It's hard to not feel guilty because of the lack of concentration. But you probably know for 100% that It's Not a Lack of Effort. You're motivated to do it. That's just a fact. Let this fact get you up and try again. * Messing up isn't what matters. What matters is Knowing Where You Went Wrong and knowing that you can't change the past but you can improve next time, and most importantly, knowing that it is not your fault. Accidents and mistakes are completely human. * Add a daily task that is "List Daily Satisfaction". At the end of the day, take a second to think about what you DID get done. Often turns out the day wasn't the waste one thought it was. Write 3 things you did well and 1 thing you could have done to make it better. It's a great, easy way to see your successes. In the mornings, it's "I'm grateful for..." And "What would make today great?". * Maintaining Relationships with People who are Supportive and Understanding helps dealing with the screw-ups. People who don't demand from you to get all or perfect anything but encouraged you to do as well as you CAN. Don't mess about people who have one-strike-you're out policies regarding mistakes or meltdowns. Resist Perfectionistic Tendencies because they're often counterproductive and harm your mental health. Don't stop that fight just because someone might be disappointed. Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges * Passengers on a Bus - Acknowledge your inner critics without letting them take over. Imagine your life is a bus and you are the driver. Your inner critics are unpleasant riders. You can't kick them off the bus, but you don't need to let them steer. * �� Develop a Growth Mindset - You are not a fixed set of traits. You can grow and change. Practice interpreting your abilities in terms of learning instead of limits. * Self-Compassion for Procrastinators - When you procrastinate, you probably don't speak kindly to yourself about it. Would you talk to a friend that way? Probably not. So, when you find yourself putting things off, try treating yourself as a friend. Guilds Back to table of contents Sleep Hygiene Recommendations * Avoid Blue Screen Light before sleep * Try drinking Coffee before going to bed (in case you're unmedicated) because it might calm you down * Melatonin Supplements to manage Delayed Melatonin Release in ADHDers - please consult with your DOCTOR first! Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * Sleepyti for scheduling your sleep. Chrome Firefox * Use Dark Mode to reduce blue light. Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges Guilds : Early to Bed and Early to Rise : Naps of Power: Habiticans for Better Sleep Back to table of contents Social Life Recommendations * Say "Thank You" instead of Apologizing * Here's a report from a guil member: "I swear the best thing about my partner finding out that I have ADHD is that she has convinced herself that giving me a Hug for doing a thing is "positive enforcement". I told her that it's not necessary for it to be a hug but she is having so much fun she will not stop. Lol." See whether your Partner is Willing to Do the Same Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * Monica helps you organize the social interactions with your loved ones. Create profiles regarding the people around you (your colleague's child's name, your brother birthday, the last topic you talked about with your grandmother etc.). Chrome Firefox Back to table of contents Studying & Working Recommendations * Keeping a Personal Wiki (Syncthing and Dokuwiki, something like that). This, instead of for planning, you can use for knowledgebasing. A way to try and map your knowledge to make it more accessible and to help you build relations between things. * Get organized to the best of your ability (but try not to perfect it. It's supposed to help you not take up 90% of your time) * Find Someone To Talk To, a sounding board of sorts. Talk to your Teachers. They're not your sounding board but ask them to help you with accountability and anything you might be struggling with. Ditto for TAs if you have any. (Pro tip: office hours create nice intermediate "deadlines" that push you to work in smaller chunks. Try to go to each one) * Be Kind To Yourself when you screw up every so often and can't do any of these (or other) things. * Try Micro-Poms like “work on the thing for one minute” or Micro-To-Do Lists like “turn on computer”, “open file”, “read one sentence” etc. if you have a hard time initiating a task. * Finish a task, get a Reward, whether it's watching an episode of a show you like, or getting a cookie. Place a gummi bear at the end of each paragraph and eat it once you've read the paragraph. * Respect the Good Day: If you have a Burst of Energy one day, make sure to not do TOO much, because you'll have to recover from draining your energy too much on the following days. * To make Task Initiation easier, especially for Long-Term Projects, always stop at a point where things are still going smoothly and you know what to do next. If you stop only when you hit a wall, picking up the task next time will be much harder because you know that a difficult sub-task is awaiting you. * Study through rephrasing the text by Taking Notes on the subject Full of Curse Words, Memes, Slang, etc. It helps get the general concepts through your brain while also producing some hilarious sentences, which in turn helps to remember even better. * Have Study Buddies: a group of people who would stay at school/uni after the last class and just work on things in the same space. It might be distracting at times because they would talk, but the net effect would be that you'd be forced to sit down and work for a few hours every evening. * For all the people here who have a Desk Job and have Trouble Sitting in their Chair like "normal people"... Buy a Desk Bicycle. The trick is too not cycle too quickly... * Interruptions at Your Workplace: give colleagues/clients a certain Time Slot they could come to you with questions, ask them to Email you instead of approaching in person and check your mails every 1-2hours, consider having a Visible List/ Ticket System, on a whiteboard, or clipboard, or something, of the tasks you are working on. When people walk up, point them to the board and tell them to add their request on the list. Start with some tasks you already finished, so they can see them being crossed off. If they think their task is urgent, tell them to negotiate with people ahead of them, unless it's genuinely your job to decide priority. You'd need to be nice about it, perhaps explain that with X done, there are a lot of tasks floating around, and you want to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. (Or have a Shared Work Flow Chart like Trello or Kanban). * Your school is providing a Recording Device for your classes to accommodate your distractibility, but due to some sort of problem (e.g. your parents don't know about your ADHD diagnosis), you have to Keep it a Secret. Here's how: don't keep it a secret; "sell" it to the problematic people instead. Make up a credible reason to have such a device. Tell the people around you, that your school is trying new teaching methods and the recording device is one of those methods. All students received such a device from the school and are supposed to use it while studying at home. ** Make sure to fill in your classmates when they visit you, so that they say they also have such a device. If that isn't possible, tell your parents (or whoever the problematic people are) the school is running a Blind Study on the new method and your friends seem to/might be in the control group and you're not supposed to mention the device to prevent bias... ** The problematic person is of the opinion that it would be too expensive to give such a device to all students...? No prob: Such studies/trials are expensive, of course they can't afford to give the device to everyone... you just happened to be one of the lucky ones who got chosen for the trial (you don't know either, why they chose you of all people... it's probably a randomized sample or something) ** This can be easily altered to fit whatever will arouse the least suspicion with the problematic people. You could also say something along the lines of you "took part in a research panel the university did, looking into the different ways personal technology can be beneficial as part of the learning environment" - of the students who took part you were one of the randomly selected few who get to try out the devices in class and report back on their pros /cons. * A study found out Low-Intensity Exercise triggers brain networks associated with cognitive control and attention processing. * Nor exactly an advice but some food for thought if you're Not Feeling Smart: Dr. Ned Hallowell says - ADHDers have a Ferrari engine brain, but bicycle breaks. Our difficulty tends to be in control, not power. As a group, we ADHDers ARE smarter than average - we have a lot of brain power. We just have trouble controlling it, so it does what we want. The problem is NOT that you are not smart, nor that you are lazy. The problem is that the "owners manual" that people have been trying to give you for your brain all your life, is for a DIFFERENT MODEL OF BRAIN than you have. It is all about figuring out how to work with your brain, instead of fighting it! * It's often easier to Just Write Down Everything You Have in Mind - Unfiltered, the way it currently comes to you rather than making perfect sentences from the begining, from scratch, and then forgetting where you wanted to go or losing the nice words you were thinking of. * And remember, no matter how bad you feel about messing things up due to ur ADHD or any other involuntary affliction, Kim Kardashian chose to play poker with mirrored glasses. You might be upset sometimes, but always remember that You are NOT Kim K. wearing mirrored sunglasses to a game of poker <3. Back to table of contents Apps Android * White Noise * Forest - grow trees by Staying Away from Timesink Apps/Websites. iOS Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * Noisli - set customized, calming background noises for Better Focus Chrome * Forest * StayFocused Firefox * Forest Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges Guilds : A Quiet Room : Academics (Unseen Academicals) : The High School Scholars : The Jobseekers : Young Adult- Unprepared Back to table of contents Therapy Recommendations * EMDR can alleviate depression and anxiety and thus improve symptoms accompanying/ entangled with ADHD. Back to table of contents Apps Android * Online therapy with BetterHelp. It’s kind of expensive though - there are different price plans (e.g. $260 a month). You get a weekly hour-long video or phone call session and unlimited messaging. You can easily switch therapists until you find one you like. Note: This recommendation was posted in the Autistic Adventurers' Guild. * Clear Fear helps with anxiety issues. This recommendation was posted in the Autistic Adventurers' Guild. * Calm Harm has suggestions for other activities when you feel like self harming. This recommendation was posted in the Autistic Adventurers' Guild. iOS Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * Free lectures and worksheets for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to address things like anxiety. This recommendation was posted in the Autistic Adventurers' Guild. Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges Guilds : Anxiety Alliance : Autistic Adventurers' Guild : The Black Ribbon and The Dark Night Guild focus on depression : Compulsive Overeaters and Co. : CPTSD for people recovering from an adverse childhood with toxic parents or other forms of prolonged trauma : Digital Addicts Anonymous : Life Basics - if you struggle with everyday life tasks & Executive Functioning. : Mentally Ill : The BodyFocusedRepetitiveBehavior Guild - e.g. nail biting, skin picking etc. : Therapy Homework Back to table of contents Time-Management & Procrastination Recommendations * Use the Pomodoro-Method but with different intervals than usual: 10-3-10. This Pomodoro Timer allows to customize productivity and break times. If you click on Kitchen Timer, then close the pop up timer setting box, you will see an alarm symbol with 'Ding' written next to it, and to the immediate right a drop down arrow. Pick anything you like and then hit 'Preview' to hear what sound you get and keep going until you find one that you really like the sound of. * Use Kitchen Timers to "feel" time passing. If timer sounds are too intrusive for you, try Special Needs Timers * Constant Alarm Snoozing: This isn't the most elegant solution, but if you absolutely positively can't stop yourself delaying the alarms the first time they go off, or you aren't near your meds etc. as the alarm goes off... Instead of hitting snooze, Dismiss the Alarm and IMMEDIATELY Create Another One for the future. Use a small interval of time, like 1-5 minutes preferably, for things like meds which have a strict schedule. Do this every time you delay. Eventually (or immediately), setting new alarms becomes more effort and annoyance than just doing the thing. And even if it takes you 4 cycles, you've only lost a max of 20ish minutes. * Bujo for short- and long- term planning. Don't fall for the pinterest/blogger BuJo trap, read the actual book. It doesn't have to be aesthetically pleasing but functional. Stencils are fun for preparing how you want it to look or just spicing up your vanilla style after the thoughts are out. Can be combined with Habitica as a way of attaching goals and reward infrastructure. See BuJo Habitica Guilds: Planner Addicts of the Papery Kind and Bullet Journalers. Used brands: Simple Elephant Planner, Moleskine * YouTube has a setting where you can remind yourself to take a break, every few minutes (you set the length of time). * When there's too much to do use a Prioritization Chart Back to table of contents Apps Android * aCalendar - Works well with Google Calendar * Excel Sheets * Brili Routines - if you complet a task within a certain amount of time it would give you stars in the app (similar to coins in Habitica) * Time It - similar to Brili but the way in which it displays the time for each task is more visual (a round clock divided into sections rather than just a timer). It is a free app and good for all ages. Another difference from Brili is that when one task times out, it automatically goes to the next task rather than waiting for the user to swipe it. Depending on what people are looking for it might work better than Brili for some people iOS * Fantastical 3 keeps your schedule easy to read, and the natural language input feature means that you don't have to think about what you're putting in. Just type it in as you would say it, and all the relevant information is there automatically. Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions * Calendars - personal calendar (color coded with class, work, extracurriculars, etc.) and a family calendar that syncs with the family so that you can coordinate on things * There's also a software called Bitrix24 it's free, as long as remembered, and it might also help you to manage your time, projects and goals. * RescueTime tracks how you spend your time on your digital devices. Everything you do is automatically categorized so you can quickly see the time you spend on specific apps, websites, and projects. * HowToADHD Toolbox Chrome Firefox Back to table of contents Habitica Tools Challenges * The Instant Gratification Monkey - Learn why procrastinators procrastinate and how to beat procrastination * The Procrastination Equation - Learn the specific causes of your procrastination, then practice techniques to address them. * Observe Your Procrastination - When we procrastinate, our minds can go in unhealthy directions. This challenge helps you identify your thought patterns. You'll learn how observing reality differs from speculations about the future, value judgments, and unhelpful conclusions. * The Procrastination Matrix - Are you putting off tasks that are important but not urgent? Do you instead choose tasks with immediate rewards? Map how you spend your time to understand why some tasks get postponed. Guilds : Accountability Buddies! : Allies : Deep Dark Reds : Long-Term Goal Accountability �� : One Step At A Time : Pomodoro Playground : Short-Term Goal Accountability : The Dueling Grounds : Time Management Back to table of contents Unsorted Advices Recommendations * Listen to Audiobooks or Pod Casts while driving. * "Sugar leads to Hyperactivity"? &rarrow; Forward this video. Back to table of contents Websites, Software & Extensions Chrome Firefox * Form History Control - Auto-save text entered in any form while typing to allow fast recovery when disaster strikes (e.g. saves Habitica guild posts you were writing in case of internet disconnects etc.). Back to table of contents Reading Recommendations Back to table of contents Habitica Extensions Back to table of contents Problems Sticking with Habitica? Root-Cause-Analysis Ask the ADHDers Guild for help! What is causing your disinterest? Here are some prompts: Addressing Workload * If you feel the need to re-organize all your Habitica Tasks but can't get started attempt to change just one task per day. * Add a weekly/monthly to review your tasks. * Add tasks for recreation (reading, gaming, TV etc.). Self-Care is important to stay energized! * Check the Short or Long Habitica Extensions list to see whether there's anything handy that could reduce overwhelm / workload that is caused by Habitica itself. * Reduce / quit challenge and/or guild participation. Addressing Forgetfulness * Add a daily for checking Habitica. * If you're using the Habitica App you can set reminders for your tasks. * Prompt logging into Habitica by linking it to other actions of your routine (e.g. check Habitica every time after brushing your teeth, before switching on the TV etc.) Addressing Disinterest * Explore potential interesting guilds. * Play the different classes. * Switch your party if it's inactive, too chatty, not chatty, deals too much/not enough damage or whatever it is that is bothering you. Check the party roster too. * Complete quests. * Try gamifying your tasks, check out gamified challenges and guilds or role playing guilds. * Use your collectors' drive! Collect all Achievements and stack them. Challenge yourself on stacking Achievements (e.g. stack X perfect days until DD/MM/YYYY). Hatch all pets and grow them into mounts. Purchase all the Enchanted Armoire. * Be Habit City's Next Top Habitican: activated the costumes function for your avatar and start the Cosplay. Do you need more fancy armor and shiny pets…? Consider a subscription. * Play Habitica on hard mode * Immerse in the Habitiverse: lead a guild, become a challenge creator, contribute to Habitica. Addressing Missing Features * Request a feature on Trello * See if someone is willing to create a Third Party Tool, a specific customization, quests, specific gear/backgrounds. If you'd like some personal Habitica art (guild banners, something for your profile) you could ask in the Pixel Power Guild. Back to table of contents Category:Guilds